First Scouting Report: UK to face Auburn in game with major NCAA tourney implications
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Game day: Kentucky 82, Florida 74
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Wednesday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Florida in Gainesville, Fla.
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A look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next men’s basketball game:
The opponent
Kentucky (19-9, 10-5 SEC) will face the Auburn Tigers (19-9, 9-6 SEC) on Saturday, Feb. 25, at Rupp Arena (capacity 20,545) at Central Bank Center in downtown Lexington.
The game will tip off at 4 p.m. (EST) and be telecast by CBS.
Coach Bruce Pearl’s Tigers held off Mississippi 78-74 Wednesday night at Auburn Arena.
Series history
Kentucky leads the all-time series with Auburn 96-23, but the Tigers have won four of the past six meetings vs. the Wildcats.
As UK head man, John Calipari is 13-6 vs. the Tigers.
Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl is 6-7 vs. Kentucky as Tigers head man and 10-16 overall.
Most recent meeting
Walker Kessler scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds, KD Johnson chipped in 17 points and four boards and Jabari Smith went for 14 points and seven rebounds as No. 2 Auburn rallied from a 33-29 halftime deficit to beat No. 12 Kentucky 80-71 on Jan. 22, 2022, at Auburn Arena.
Kellan Grady and Sahvir Wheeler led Kentucky with 17 points each and Oscar Tshiebwe had 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Wildcats.
Power rankings
The NCAA NET rankings have Auburn No. 30, Kentucky No. 35.
In the Pomeroy ratings, Auburn is No. 20, Kentucky No. 34.
The Sagarin ratings have Auburn No. 20, Kentucky No. 29.
Know your foe
1. The Kentucky-Auburn contest carries major NCAA Tournament implications for both teams.
Entering Wednesday’s games, Kentucky actually had more Quad 1 wins (four) than Auburn (two). The Wildcats also had more combined Quad 1 and 2 victories (11) than the Tigers (eight). Both Auburn and UK had one Quad 3 loss, but UK also has the anvil of its Quad 4 loss at home to South Carolina. Auburn is 5-0 in Quad 4 games.
ESPN.com bracketologist Joe Lunardi had Kentucky as an eight seed in his most-recent bracket projection and Auburn as a No. 10 seed.
UK needs Auburn to stay inside the top 30 of the NET Rankings for Saturday’s game in Rupp Arena to be a Quad 1-victory opportunity for the Wildcats.
2. Auburn’s leading scorers are two players who began their college careers playing for teams in Kentucky.
Former Morehead State big man Johni Broome leads the Tigers in scoring (14.0 points per game), rebounding (8.9) and blocked shots (2.4). The 6-foot-10, 235-pound junior is making 52.4 percent of his field-goal tries but only 60.7 percent of his foul shots.
It will be fascinating to see Broome go head-to-head against Kentucky star big man Oscar Tshiebwe.
Ex-Eastern Kentucky point guard Wendell Green is Auburn’s second-leading scorer (13.6 points) and leads the Tigers in assists (4.3). The 5-11, 175-pound junior has not shot the ball efficiently, making only 36.1 percent of his field-goal attempts and 28.5 percent of his three-point tries.
3. Going into Wednesday’s game with Mississippi, Auburn was 2-4 in games played in February. This month, the Tigers have lost on the road at Tennessee, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt and were beaten at home by No. 2 Alabama.
The Tigers are 4-6 in true road games this season.
This story was originally published February 22, 2023 at 9:14 PM.
